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wal·lop (wŏləp) Informal
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v. wal·loped, wal·lop·ing, wal·lops
v. tr.
1. To beat forcefully; thrash.
2. To strike with a hard blow: walloped the ball into the outfield.
3. To defeat thoroughly.
4. To affect harshly or severely: was walloped with a large fine.
v. intr.
To move in a heavy or clumsy manner.
n.
1. A hard or severe blow.
2.
a. A powerful force: has a punch that delivers a wallop.
b. A powerful effect: “Therein lies the novel's emotional wallop and moral message” (George F. Will).
[Middle English walopen, to gallop, from Old North French *waloper, either from Frankish *wal-hlaup, swift run on the battlefield made by a foot soldier running beside a cavalry horse while holding on to horse's mane (*wal, battlefield; see welə- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots + *hlaup, run) or from Frankish *wala hlaupan, to run well (*wala, well; see welə- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots + *hlaupan, to walk, run).]
wallop·er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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